苏锡常地区生态足迹分析

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS OF SOUTH JIANGSU PROVINCE: THE CASE OF SUZHOU-WUXI-CHANGZHOU REGION

生态足迹作为一种可持续发展状况的定量测度,反映了人类对自然利用程度。该文以苏州、无锡和常州地区1991年到1999年统计年鉴的数据为依据,对该地区9a来的生态足迹进行了计算分析。纵向分析的结果表明,苏锡常地区历年的人均生态占用不断增加,9a时间增加了37 78%,而人均生态承载力却减少了18 67%,该地区历年人均生态占用均出现赤字,而且呈连年增长的趋势,到1999人均生态赤字已高达1 2684hm2。与世界其他一些地区生态占用的横向比较分析表明,苏锡常地区人均生态占用为1 7469hm2,低于全球平均水平(2 4hm2);人均生态承载力为0 4605hm2,也小于全球人均水平(2hm2);人均生态赤字远远高于世界平均水平(0 4hm2)。

Sustainable development has gained much concern within society and academic domains; therefore, it is also an important issue that needs to be studied further. In the late 1990s, William E. Rees and Wackernagel Mathis put forward the ecological footprint theory, which is used to measure the development level from a new aspect and deal with a certain region's development condition. In this paper, we give an introduction to the concept of ecological footprint and computer modeling. Then we take SuzhouWuxiChangzhou (SWC) Region as a case study and assess its development situation from 1991 to 1999 by using the ecological footprint theory. The results show that the demand of the ecological footprint of this region increased 3778% and the supply of the ecological footprint decreased 1867% in the 9 years continually. This region is in ecological deficit condition for all these 9 years and the ecological deficit increased from 07017hm2/cap. to 12684hm2/cap.. Compared with other countries and districts in the world, the ecological footprint of SWC Region (17469hm2/cap.) is lower than global average level (24hm2/cap.); the supply of the ecological footprint of this region (04605hm2/cap.) is also lower than the global average level (2 hm2/cap.); The ecological deficit is very higher than the global average level (04 hm2/cap.). Finally the paper discusses the method and forecasts its application, and further summarizes the strong and weak points of such a model.